FORTUNE — Mitt Romney did not manage Bain Capital’s investments after leaving to run the Salt Lake City Olympic Games, according to confidential firm documents obtained by Fortune.
The timing of Romney’s departure from Bain became a lightning rod earlier today, when The Boston Globe published an article suggesting that Romney remained actively involved with the firm longer than he and his campaign have claimed. The sourcing is largely SEC documents that list Romney as Bain Capital’s CEO and sole shareholder through 2002 — or three years after Romney officially left to run the Salt Lake City Olympic Games.
These claims are very similar to ones made last week by David Corn in Mother Jones, which we disputed at the time.
Now Fortune has obtained new evidence that supports Romney’s version of events.
Bain Capital began circulating offering documents for its seventh private equity fund in June 2000. Those documents include several pages specifying fund management. The section begins:
Set forth below is information regarding the background of the senior private equity investment professionals of Bain Capital. Also listed are certain investment professionals responsible for the day-to-day affairs of the Brookside and Sankaty funds, which are affiliated funds of Fund VII.
It then goes on to list 18 managers of the private equity fund. Mitt Romney is not among them. Same goes for an affiliated co-investment fund, whose private placement memorandum is dated September 2000.
Then there is Bain Capital Venture Fund — the firm’s first dedicated venture capital effort — whose private placement memorandum is dated January 2001. Romney also isn’t listed among its “key investment professionals,” or as part of its day-to-day operations or investment committee.
All of this could prove problematic for the Obama campaign, which has spent they day crowing over the Globe story (going so far as to hold a media call about it).
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